Apparatus for making dispensers

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus are provided for feeding packages, dispensing nozzles and attaching strips and for securing the strips on the packages to hold the dispensing nozzles in position on the packages for dispensing the contents of the packages upon a squeezing thereof.

United States Patent Runge Sept. 23, 1975 APPARATUS FOR MAKINGDISPENSERS [75] Inventor: Heinz F. Runge, Niles, Ill. pmfwry Examujlerwcl tf Assistant Exammer-V1ctor A. DiPalma [73] V Ass1gnee: KraftcoCorporation, Glenview, Ill. Attorney, A or Firm -Fitch, Even, Tabin & 22Filed: June 18, 1974 Luedeka [21] Appl. No.2 480,526

Related U.S. Application Data 5 AC [60] Division of Ser. No. 205,277,Dec. 6, 1971, Pat. No.

3,821,046, which is a continuation, of Ser. No. 7 861,385, Sept. 26,1969, abandoned. A method and apparatus are provided for feedingpackages, dispensing nozzles and attaching strips and [52] U.S. Cl29/208'B; 29/200 A; 29/208 C for securing the strips on the packages tohold the dis- [51] Int. Cl. B2 3P 19/04 pensing nozzles in position onthe packages for dis- [58] Field of Search 29/208 B, 208 R, 208 D,pensing the contents of the packages upon a squeezing 29/208 C, 200 Athereof.

[56] References Cited 3 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures UNITED STATES PATENTS3,673,663 7/1972 Taddei 29/208 B US Patent Sept. 23,1975 Sheet 2 on3,906,609

US Patent Sept. 23,1975 Sheet 3 of3 3,906,609

FIG.3

APPARATUS FOR MAKING DISPENSERS The present invention is a division ofcopending application Ser. No. 205,277, filed Dec. 6, 197 l, now U.S.Pat. No. 3,821,046 which is a continuation of application Ser. No.861,385, filed Sept. 26, 1969, now abandoned.

This invention relates to an apparatus for forming a dispenser of thekind in which a package carries a dispenser nozzle on its exterior wallfor dispensing the contents of the package upon a squeezing thereof.

The present invention is described herein in connection with but is notlimited to the making of collapsible, wall dispensers of the kind fullydisclosed in copending application Ser. No. 700,474, entitled Dispenserand filed on Jan. 25, 1968, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,477,614. Morespecifically, this dispenser comprises a so-called chub package which isgenerally cylindrical in shape with a strip or band encompassing theexterior of the cylindrical package wall between the sealed ends for thepackage and securing a dispensing nozzle to the imperforate packagewall. The strip reinforces the pack age wall which will be perforated atthe nozzle when it is desired to dispense the package contents throughthe dispensing nozzle.

Accordingly, a general object of the present invention is to provide anapparatus for making such a dispenser in a commercial and economicalmanner.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent fromthe following detailed description taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of an apparatus embodying the novelfeatures of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, diagrammatic perspective view illustrative of theapparatus for and method of forming the dispenser;

FIG. 3 illustrates a dispensing package constructed in accordance withthe preferred embodiment of the in- .vention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a top view of the dispensing nozzle;

FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the nozzle of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 illustrates a vibratory feeder for orienting and feedingdispensing nozzles of the kind as shown in FIG. 4.

As shown in the drawings for purposes of illustration, the invention isembodied in an apparatus for and a method of forming a dispenser 11, asbest seen in FIG. 3, which dispenses its contents when squeezed withsufficient force. The illustrated dispenser includes a chub package 13having a continuous cylindrically shaped,

collapsible wall 15 closed at opposite ends by clenched bands 16 to forma complete package to which a dispensing means is attached to controlthe flow of the contents of the package through an orifice 17 in a noz-;zle 19 The nozzle 19 carries a removable cap 20 which roll the packageonto the stationary strip which has a self-adhering adhesive thereon.

A fast and efficient method of forming dispensers 11 at commercial ratesand quantities is achieved by feeding the strips 23, the nozzles 19 andthe packages 13 in timed relationship and in carefully controlledpositional relationships with respect to one another so that the strip23 is centered on the wall of the package and is attached theretowithout wrinkling and with the nozzle properly oriented with a concaveside 31 thereon abutted against a similarly curved portion of thecollapsible package wall 15. As will be explained in greater detail, thenozzles 19 are inserted into the apertures 27 in the strips and then thepackage moves into engagement with the strip which wraps thereabout andis suitably secured to the package wall.

Referring now in greater detail to the feeding of the packages 13, aprocession of packages are fed forwardly, i.e., from right to left inFIG. 1, by the input conveyor means 21 which is formed of a pair ofcontinuous chains 33 each of which has a series of upstanding lugs 35attached thereto and spaced apart a sufficient distance to receive achub package therebetween. The endless conveyor chains move about aforward drive sprocket at a right end 37 of the conveyor which isdisposed upwardly relative to a lower sprocket which is suitablyconnected through a drive gear box 39 to a motor 41. In this preferredembodiment of the invention, the input conveyor 21 is. drivencontinuously at a predetermined speed which determines the rate at whichthe dispensers 11 are made, the movement of the nozzles 19 and the labelstrips 23 being timed thereto as will be explained hereinafter.

For the purpose of transferring the packages 13 from the infeed conveyor21 to a pair of endless belts 29, there is provided a transfer meanswhich includes a pair of flippers 43, as best seen in FIG. 2, which aredriven in and by a rotatable cam (not shown) in a cyclic manner from alower receiving position within slots 44 in a horizontal support ortable 45 to an upper discharging position shown in solid lines in FIG.2. In the receiving position, points 47 on the flippers 43 are disposedbeneath the plane of the package travel when discharging from the lowerend of the inclinedconveyor means 21, and curved cradle surfaces 46 onthe flippers are disposed beneath the discharging package. The motor 41drives the cam to turn the flippers 43 about their horizontally disposedaxes 49, so that the cradle surfaces 46 lift the package from the infeedconveyor 21 and roll the same forwardly onto the supporting table 45.

As the package is deposited by the flippers 43 on the table 45, the pairof overhead feed belts 29 engage the top of the package and exertforwardly directed friction forces on the package causing the same toroll along the table towards the nozzle applying station 25. During thisforward feeding along the table 45, the packages abut a pair ofupstanding stops 51 which pivot between the upper stop position in whichthe package becomes positioned with its longitudinal axis disposed atright angles to the path of travel and a retracted position in which thestops are pivoted downward through slots 53 in the table to a positionbeneath the plane of the table 45. If the package is canted so that theaxis of the package is at a position other than substantially normal tothe path of travel, the leading end of the canted package will abut oneof the two stops 51 and the package will be held at this end while theother 57 in the form of an electric eye located downstream of the nozzleapplying station 25. A suitable motor operator (not shown) retracts thestops and permits the package 13 to roll forwardly onto the strip 23which is being held by a pressure differential on a plate 61 which hasapertures 63 connected to conduits leading to a vacuum pump (not shown).Thus, the plate 61 functions as a vacuum plate to hold the label 23 in aflat unwrinkled condition and against movement with an edge 65 of thestrip substantially parallel to the axis of the package, i.e., normal tothe axis of the package travel, and with a pressure sensitive adhesiveon its upper side 66 positioned for engagement with the package.

The feed belts 29 apply sufficient pressure to the package that when itengages the edge 65 of the pres sure sensitive adhesive on the labelstrip. this edge immcdiately adheres to the package. As the package isrolled forwardly across the strip 23 towards the nozzle 19 which isinserted into the aperture 27 in the label strip 23, the leading edge ofthe strip is carried upwardly toward the feed belt 29. The interiorconcave surface 31 on the nozzle 19 is positioned to engage the convexlycurved surface of package so that the flange abuts tightly against thepackage wall and is intermediate the label strip 23 and the package wall15. The nozzle moves upwardly towards the feed belts while the packagecontinues to move and roll forwardly across the vacuum plate to bedischarged from the nozzle applying station 25. The feed belts 29 arespaced so that they do not engage the nozzle 19 and the latter rollswithin a slot 68 provided in the discharge side of the table 45. Thefeed belts 29 serve to roll the package from the nozzle attachingstation 25 to and across a path of a sensing means 71 in the form of anelectric eye which will. when detecting the finished dispenser.establish circuits to cause the next label strip 23 to feed intoposition on the plate 61 and also cause the feeding of a nozzle 19 intothe aperture 27 in the label strip.

The dispenser 11 is rolled to the left as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 2 and isdischarged from the feed belts 29 at sheaves 73 at which the belts 29travel upwardly to idler rollers 74 and then reversely along a returnrun to idler rollers and then downwardly to forward sheaves 75 at whichthe belts accept packages 13 from the flippers 43. From the belts 29,the dispensers 11 roll beneath a pressure belt 77 which is preferablyformed of an elastomeric material and spaced above a lower horizontallydisposed support surface 79 which is in a continuation of and in theplane of the table 75. Preferably. the support surface 79 has a channeltherein to accept the nozzle 19 as the pressure belt 77 continues toroll the'package along the support surface 79 towards a discharge roller80 at the discharge end of the machine. From the discharge roller, thebelt moves reversely along an upper return run to a forward roller 81 atwhich the belt is fed downwardly for pressing engagement withdischarging dispensers. The pressure belt 77 may be driven in any simplemanner such as by means of a chain drive 83 extending from its rollers81 to the discharge sheaves 73 for the feed belts 29.

Referring now to FIGS. 1, 2 and 6, the preferred manner of providing aprocession of nozzles 19 having their concave surfaces 31 aligned tocontact the package walls and with the caps thereon facing down for insertion through the aperture 27 in the label strip is by means of avibratory feeder which includes a vibratory hopper 87 having an open topinto which may be deposited a large mass of non-oriented nozzles 19. Asbest seen in FIG. 6, the nozzles 19 are vibrated in the hopper by meansof a motor 88 located beneath a bottom hopper wall 89 in which thenozzles are deposited. The nozzles travel radially outward from thecenter of the bottom wall 89 toward an upwardly spiralling track 91which leads upwardly along successive turns 91A and 918 to a top turn91C. The nozzles 19 which have their caps down travel up along the track91 in a counterclockwise direction to a deflector 93 overhanging theportion 91C of the track which returns to the bottom wall 89 thosenozzles which are not properly situated on the track 91C. Those nozzleswhich are properly positioned with the cap down and the concave surface31 positioned up slide radially outwardly along a surface 94 to abut anupstanding guide wall 95 which guides the same for forward movement withthe caps and nozzle heads falling into a groove 97 between a pair ofspaced rails 99.

From the discharge rails 99 of the vibratory feeder. the procession ofnozzles move forwardly for movement along a pair of channels 101 whichextend to the nozzle attaching station 24 and directly over the aperture27 in the strip 23. The nozzles are vibrated along the channels to moveforwardly to a combined stop and feed pawl 103 which has a tooth 105aligned with and in contact with the top of the foremost one of thenozzles to push the nozzle forwardly during a forward stroke thereof.The feed pawl 103 positions the nozzle directly below a reciprocatingplunger 107 which, on its downward stroke, strips the nozzle from thechannels 101 and forces the nozzle head and cap down and through theaperture 27 in the strip 23 therebelow. The preferred plunger 107 isdriven by a pneumatic cylinder 109 which is driven through a suitableair supply control 110 including a valve 111 which is opened by acircuit operated by the sensing means 71 sensing a discharging dispenser11. That is to say, the passage of a dispenser past the sensing means 71causes electrical circuits to operate the valve 111 to admit air to thecylinder 109 to force the plunger 107 down to strip the nozzle 19 fromthe channels and insert the same into the aperture 27 in the label strip23. The feed pawl 103 is also actuated by a means including a crank 106which is suitably attached to the plunger 107 to cause the pawl 103 tomove through a nozzle feeding cycle. During the return movement of thefeed pawl 103, the pawl tooth 105 is raised by a cam (not shown) to aposition above the nozzles and then is lowered onto the top of theleading one of the abutted procession of nozzles in the channels 101.The pawl remains stationary at this point holding the procession untilthe pawl is again reciprocated forwardly to position another nozzle inposition for the plunger to engage the same.

Turning now to label strips 23, the latter are adhered in closely spacedrelationship on a carrier web 112 by their respective pressure sensitiveadhesive faces 66.

The carrier web 112 carries the strips to a position adjacent the nozzleattaching station at which the strips are peeled from the carrier weband transferred to a position on the vacuum plate 61 to receive a nozzle19. The preferred manner of removing the strips from the carrier webs isby automatically peeling the pressure sensitive face 66 from arelease-coated, side of the carrier web by turning the carrier webaround a sharp corner 113 with a quick very substantial change indirection. More specifically, the strips 23' are fed upwardly towardsthe corner 113, which is an upper edge of a flat, inclined plate 115,adjacent a side of the plate 61; and at the corner a leading edge 117 ofthe strip separates its adhesive from the carrier web which is reversingits direction of travel by more than 270. The leaving edge 117 of thestrip 23 is subjected to jets of air issuing from a pair of nozzles 119attached to compressed air hoses. The jets of air abut against thepressure sensitive adhesive face 66 and force the strip 23 down towardsthe top of the plate 61. Once it starts to peel, the strip 23 continuesto peel from the carrier web 112 and slides along the plate 61 with theleading edge 117 thereof advancing towards a nozzle receiving hole 120in the plate 61. In this manner, the strip 23 is removed from thecarrier web 112 and thereafter, the carrier web halts. Even though theair jets continue to blast on the peeled strip 23, the same is heldagainst lateral displacement by the pressure differential caused by thevacuum holes 63 being covered by the strip.

The carrier web 112 is removed from a lower supply roll 12] which isspaced laterally outwardly of the nozzle applying station 25 and travelsupwardly towards the underside of the inclined plate 115 while spacedtherefrom until reaching the corner 113 of the inclined plate 115. Thecarrier web turns'about the corner 113 and is partially wrapped about ahold-down tensioning roller 122 before winding on a take up roller 123which is located above the supply roll. The take-up roll 123 issupported on an end of a horizontally disposed support shaft 125 whichis attached to and driven by a motor 127 which in this instance is anair motor. The

air motor 127 is driven by a source of compressed air from a conduit 129which leads to a suitable control valve 131 mounted on the top of themotor 127. Each time a completed dispensing package passes the sens ingmeans 71, the valve 131 is operated to cause the motor 127 to turn thesupply roll 123 through a distance sufficient to pull the carrier webforwardly to peel one label strip 23 therefrom and to position a leading edge 117 of the next subsequent strip adjacent the corner 113.

Preferably, the carrier web 112 is held in tension between the supplyroll 121 and the take-up roll 123. lt

is also preferred that the supply roll 121 which is supported on an endof a support shaft 133 also be driven by a motor 135 to unwind a lengthof carrier web which ;is substantially longer than any one given strip23.

More specifically, a length of carrier web having several strips 23 isunwound with the operation of the motor 135; and to this end there isprovided a dancer roll (not shown) which rests on top of the carrier webjust forward of the supply roll. When the carrier web 112 unwinds fromthe supply roll, the dancer roll, pivots down and develops a loop andholds the loop under tension. Then, as the loop of the carrier web isdissi .pated by forward movement of the carrier web during which severallabels are stripped from the carrier web and several lengths of web arewound on the take-up roll 123, the dancer roll moves up and closeselectrical contacts to operate the motor 135 which turns the supply reelto again form the loop whereby the dancer roll pivots downwardly toclose other contacts which cause the motor 135 to be de-energized. Thus,in this manner, the carrier web is fed and the loop in the carrier webis maintained under tension by the dancer roll.

As an aid to understanding the invention, a brief review of the methodand apparatus will be given. A procession of packages 13 are fedforwardly along a path toward the nozzle attaching station 25 by theconveyor means 21 to the flippers 43 which lift and transfer thepackages to a position beneath the endless belts 29 which roll thepackage along the table 45 to abut the pair of stops 51. The stops holdthe package until a previously formed dispenser moves past a sensingmeans 57 which causes the operation of a motor actuator to pivot thestops downwardly into a retracted position in the slots 53. By thistime, the axis of the package will be disposed substantially normal tothe path of travel and the package will be rolled forwardly by the belts29 to engage the leading edge of the label strip 23 which has itspressure sensitive adhesive face 66 disposed upwardly. A nozzle 19 willalready be inserted into the aperture 27 in the strip with concavesurface 31 of the nozzle facing upwardly. The belts will roll thepackage onto the leading edge 65 of the strip 23 with sufficientpressure that the leading edge 65 will adhere to the package. As thepackage continues to roll its wall 15 will abut the flange 67 of thenozzle 19 which is then positioned intermediate the strip 23 and thepackage wall 15. The feed belts continually roll the package forwardlywith strip 23 being wrapped completely thereabout. i

The now formed dispenser 11 rolls forwardly to the sensing means 71which senses the package and causes the valve 131 for the take-up motor127 to open and admit compressed air to turn the shaft on which thetake-up reel 123 is mounted. As the take-up reel turns, it pulls thenext strip 23 on the carrier web 112 upwardly to the corner 113 to peelthe strip 23 therefrom. As the leading edge 117 of the strip 23 ispeeled from the carrier web 112, the air jets from the nozzles 119 bendthis edge down towards the plate 61. As the carrier web continues totravel, the strip continues to peel from the carrier web and move acrossthe plate 61 towards a position beneath the nozzle applying plunger 107.After the strip 23 is completely separated from the carrier web, thetake-up reel motor 127 stops pulling the carrier web 112. Soonthereafter, the second sensing means 57 senses the dispenser 11 whichcaused the strip to be peeled and the second sensing means operates theair valve 111 for the pneumatic cylinder 109 to cause the plunger 107 tomove downwardly and strip the nozzle 19 therebelow from the supportingchannels 101 and insert the same into the aperture 27 in the label strip23 and into the aperture in the table. On the return upward stroke ofthe plunger 107, the feed pawl 103 moves forwardly to deposit the nextnozzle 19 at the position below the plunger 107 and the feed pawl isreturned to rest on top of the next nozzle to be fed forwardly for astrip 23. During this operation, the previously wrapped dispensingpackage has been transferred from the feed belt 29 to the dischargepressure belt 77 which feeds the same along the forward path of movementto discharge the same at a discahrge end of the belt 77. In thepreferred embodiment of the invention, the packages are moved in asubstantially continuous manner by the input carrier 21, the feed belts29 and the discharge belts 77 while the strips 23 and nozzles 19 are fedintermittently.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that there is provided an apparatuswhich assembles and forms the dispenser in an automatic and continuousmanner. The strips 23 are tightly bonded to the exterior wall of thewall intermediate the ends of the package with the flange 67 of thenozzle adhering to the strip at the area about the aperture 27 in thestrip. When the cap is removed from the nozzle, a sharp knife may beinserted through the discharge orifice 17 to puncture the package wall15. By squeezing the collapsible wall 15, the contents of the package,for example, processed cheese, will extrude through the orifice. Thepackage wall may begin to tear at the area of the puncture, but it willstop tearing as the flange 67 and the strip 23 bonded to the wall 15reinforce the wall 15 about the area of the tear. The preferred strip 23also serves as a label with appropriate data printed thereon describingthe contents of the package. Hence, the adhering of the strip 23 in aprecisely aligned, non-wrinkled condition is important to the appearanceof the dispenser.

While a preferred embodiment has been shown and described, it will beunderstood that there is no intent to limit the invention by suchdisclosure but, rather, it is intended to cover all modifications andalternate constructions falling within the spirit and scope of theinvention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for making a dispensing package having a dispensingnozzle protruding from an aperture in a strip secured to the outerpackage wall, said apparatus comprising means for continuously moving aprocession of the packages along a predetermined path of travel, meansfor assuring that each of said packages has its longitudinal axisdisposed in a predetermined position relative to said path of travel,means for moving a plurality of the strips in a path for intersectingwith said packages, means for inserting a nozzle into projectingrelationship with an aperture in each of said strips, and means foraffixing one of said strips to each of said packages.

2. An apparatus for attaching a reinforcing strip and a dispensingnozzle projecting through an aperture in said strip to a flexible wallof a generally cylindrical package comprising means for feeding aprocession of packages along a given path of travel, means for assuringthat each of said packages has its longitudinal axis disposed in apredetermined position relative to the path of travel, means for feedinga carrier web having a supply of pressure adhesive label strips thereonalong a path intersecting with said predetermined path of travel forsaid cylindrical packages, means for moving said carrier and said stripsthereon about a sharp corner to peel said strips from the carrier, meansincluding a pressure differential for holding the peeled strips at anozzle attaching station, means for feeding a series of said nozzles andfor inserting a nozzle into said apertures, means at said nozzleattaching stationfor simultaneously feeding and rolling said cylindricalpackages onto label strips having a nozzle projecting therefrom andmeans for feeding the rolled and wrapped packages forwardly from saidnozzle attaching station.

3. An apparatus in accordance with claim 2 including a first sensingmeans for sensing movement of the last wrapped package and for causing astrip to feed into said nozzle applying station, and a second sensingmeans for sensing a wrapped package for feeding a noz- 210 into anaperture in a strip at said station.

1. An apparatus for making a dispensing package having a dispensingnozzle protruding from an aperture in a strip secured to the outerpackage wall, said apparatus comprising means for continuously moving aprocession of the packages along a predetermined path of travel, meansfor assuring that each of said packages has its longitudinal axisdisposed In a predetermined position relative to said path of travel,means for moving a plurality of the strips in a path for intersectingwith said packages, means for inserting a nozzle into projectingrelationship with an aperture in each of said strips, and means foraffixing one of said strips to each of said packages.
 2. An apparatusfor attaching a reinforcing strip and a dispensing nozzle projectingthrough an aperture in said strip to a flexible wall of a generallycylindrical package comprising means for feeding a procession ofpackages along a given path of travel, means for assuring that each ofsaid packages has its longitudinal axis disposed in a predeterminedposition relative to the path of travel, means for feeding a carrier webhaving a supply of pressure adhesive label strips thereon along a pathintersecting with said predetermined path of travel for said cylindricalpackages, means for moving said carrier and said strips thereon about asharp corner to peel said strips from the carrier, means including apressure differential for holding the peeled strips at a nozzleattaching station, means for feeding a series of said nozzles and forinserting a nozzle into said apertures, means at said nozzle attachingstation for simultaneously feeding and rolling said cylindrical packagesonto label strips having a nozzle projecting therefrom and means forfeeding the rolled and wrapped packages forwardly from said nozzleattaching station.
 3. An apparatus in accordance with claim 2 includinga first sensing means for sensing movement of the last wrapped packageand for causing a strip to feed into said nozzle applying station, and asecond sensing means for sensing a wrapped package for feeding a nozzleinto an aperture in a strip at said station.